wow fred. you need to calm down man. this is a dangerous sport no doubt and proper safety precautions are vital but i think you went a little too far. safety isnt the reason it got ousted. more likely neil pryde is the primary culprit. as for high speed in the shallows....you couldnt pay me enough money to give that up!

now, i dont go for big jumps and crazy stunts in shallow water but i realize that i am taking a risk. but as an adult i am always measuring the risks that i take with any activity.

but the crap you said about racing and the daggers on the boards and the starting line being congested? have you seen any sailboat racing? that's just how it goes fred. it is always incredibly tight in the start of a race. sometimes there are collisions, but that doesnt stop people from doing it.

in closing, i guess i am just really thankful that you aren't at any of the kite spots that i go to. you would most assuredly annoy the hell out of me.

switch313 wrote:steroid taking macho men and old women who are over the hill and cant do anything else but race a canal barge around a series of boyus being pulled by a 20m kite. rubbish.

these people also have fun with what they do. You should be the only one having fun because you are so hardcore? You will also get older...and smarter! Just wait! And maybe you will get there not being paralyzed...I wish you all the luck for it!

Someone else needs to grow up and speak appropriate hehe Seriously though, are you that h#### on the olympics? There was no freestyle in the OL plan, just cruising on a board that hard to get in the air

Kiteracing is not just cruising around on a board.

These guys and girls scream around at speeds most of the he men on this forum could not handle even if they tried.

Now try to imagine a crash where a rider goes over another rider in the water with long sharp race fins.

Mitigating unnecessary risk is the right thing to do.

We're all very cool until a tragic accident happens.

Riding in shallow water is not dangerous if it's done slow or at least with caution until you reach a few feet in depth and then go crazy.

Too many videos showing pros doing powered up tricks in inches of water. All it takes is a sudden board snag on the sand or rocks and you can go down hard enough and suddenly enough to break your neck.

I've seen what happens to the victim, family and friends.

Regarding kiting being dropped from the Olympics you can rest assured that a large part of the issue is the general image of kiting.

Kitesurf was in the Olympics ´cause the Council, that group of persons in their suits and their ties, was a bit too much carried away by that friendly, tanned, young crowd that was with Sir Branson. They were enthusiastically speaking for a new class of windsurf, just with a spinnaker.

And how could we blame them to fall into the hype - it´s not really everyday you got Sir Branson suggesting what to do and for a moment everybody in that room had something to aspire to

Next following day there was lots of very furious and hungry people. Not ´that kid called me a bad name´ furious, but ´I am unemployed, financial hurt and it´s your fault´ kind of thing. And they were all windsurfers. Uppps - that spinnaker makes a difference?

This crew is around for some time, they know where the MNA is in town, they know people. And they did what any unemployed person would do - spoke their minds to the right folks, the kind of folks that could make a difference in November´s AGM.

In the meantime at Neil Pryde HQ the layer department was summarizing ISAF sponsoring contracts in powerpoint presentation with USD figures. After all done Mr. Pryde probably give a gentlemen call to Mr. Petersson - a man job is a man job, like driving, plumbing, changing a lamp or saving a multi-million dollar business.

So that little April´s mise-en-scene was properly fixed in November. And they all live happy forever.

Someone else needs to grow up and speak appropriate hehe Seriously though, are you that h#### on the olympics? There was no freestyle in the OL plan, just cruising on a board that hard to get in the air

Kiteracing is not just cruising around on a board.

These guys and girls scream around at speeds most of the he men on this forum could not handle even if they tried.

Now try to imagine a crash where a rider goes over another rider in the water with long sharp race fins.

Mitigating unnecessary risk is the right thing to do.

We're all very cool until a tragic accident happens.

Riding in shallow water is not dangerous if it's done slow or at least with caution until you reach a few feet in depth and then go crazy.

Too many videos showing pros doing powered up tricks in inches of water. All it takes is a sudden board snag on the sand or rocks and you can go down hard enough and suddenly enough to break your neck.

I've seen what happens to the victim, family and friends.

Regarding kiting being dropped from the Olympics you can rest assured that a large part of the issue is the general image of kiting.

Mid life crisis Fred. Why not get a Harley and the full collection of Steven Segal movies and imagine you are him!

You are a disgrace and your imagination about paraplegics, hookers and furries is shamefull !!

You don`t have the first idea of what risk is and how it relates to reward(financial)

Hard packed sand and the rail of your twin tip are as dangerous as snow, if not worse.

NO not the kind of snow I´m talking about Not powder, but rock hard icey-snow... (we have like 20 words for it, but harder in english)I´ve crashed a lot in both and that just a stupid thing to say! I have 200 days a year crashing in both those two, and trust me there is a huge difference. And even in shallow water there is still water to take a bit of the force. Not saying you can´t get injured in shallow water, but it´s not going to kill you watching someone. Btw I´ve crushed my elbow, broken my hip, and broken my arm straight off during kiting, and non on shallow water. Snow is worse

Anyway a helmet won´t help you from braking you neck, skiers and snowboarders over here do it every year, with a helmet...

You an say I don´t want to go big or fast and take that risk, just don´t, but if others want to do it so what, they know their game, risk and the all the elements. I sure take precautions - I wouldn´t do a big loop in 20cm of water myself, but shallow waters are great fun. And it´s cool to see people going big and riding hard! And again remember that they normally pop away from the shallow part towards the deeper part in these movies you hate so much. So not as unsafe as you think. And as long as you have the right placement of your weight catching some sand if no big deal, I never fall cause I know and am prepared in my body in shallow parts.

You go ahead and wear all the safety stuff in the world, but kiting is actually a pretty safe sport when you look at the numbers of injuries so don´t go ahead and judge others... And not the industry! It´s just ridiculous!

Last edited by john a on Wed Nov 14, 2012 12:42 am, edited 1 time in total.